Brother found two sisters dead in murder-suicide, SFPD chief says

The two sisters stabbed to death earlier this month at a family housing complex in the Tenderloin were found by their brother, according to an update from police in the apparent murder-suicide.

The sisters, identified as 51-year-old Julie Nhan and 56-year-old Phung Nhan, were discovered Aug. 8 in their sixth-floor unit at Tenderloin Family Housing, a recently renovated affordable housing development at 201 Turk St.

“It appeared that one sister actually stabbed the other to death, and both were found by their brother actually which is a very sad case,” police Chief Bill Scott said Wednesday at the Police Commission. “We’re looking at this as a murder-suicide based on the evidence but that investigation continues.”

The family has since asked for privacy and declined to speak through Supervisor Jane Kim, who represents the area on the Board of Supervisors.

San Francisco Police are investigating the deaths of two sisters in an apartment at 201 Turk St. as a possible murder-suicide. (Kevin N. Hume/S.F. Examiner)

The update was among several the chief offered at the hearing on recent violence in San Francisco.

In the quadruple shooting near the border of the Excelsior District that killed 19-year-old Gerson Romero Aug. 11, Scott said police still had no suspects.

Romero, a former student at Mission High School who worked in construction and was from Honduras, was getting pizza with his friends early that morning when they were shot on Mission Street and Amazon Avenue, according to friends.

Police said that a man in another group had shouted at Romero and his friends from across the street before the shooting. Scott said the three other victims suffered injuries not considered life-threatening.

Last Monday, an anti-violence worker was seriously injured in a daytime shooting across the street from a youth center in the Bayview. The 43-year-old man, an outreach worker with the Street Violence Intervention Program, was shot on Kiska Road across from the Willie Mays Boys and Girls Club.

Scott called the shooting “horrible.”

“He spent a majority of his life working to protect our community and to keep our streets safer, and he was gunned down in the middle of the street in broad daylight,” Scott said. “We need to solve this one.”

Arturo Carrillo, the director of the program, said the man was working and had headed home to switch vehicles when he was shot.

“There is a risk when you’re working with violence and you’re trying to mitigate it, but our people, they do a great job at saving lives,” Carillo told the San Francisco Examiner. “They’ve saved many lives.”

Scott attributed the decline in homicides so far this year in part to the work of the SVIP. There have been 29 homicides in San Francisco so far this year. As of the end of July 2017, 41 homicides had been reported in The City, according to police.

“This is significant to us and the community,” Scott said of the shooting. “They do a really, really phenomenal job in intervening with street violence.”

The public can call police with information at 415-575-4444 or text information to TIP411 and begin the message with “SFPD.” Tipsters can remain anonymous.

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